A section of Members of Parliament drawn from Garissa have called for the elevation of the Garissa Referral Hospital into a Level 6 facility run by the national government to reduce the pressure on other sub county hospitals in the area.
The MPs Dekow Mohamed (Garissa Township), Salah Yakub (Fafi), Sheikh Abdi (Ijara) and Garissa senator Abdul Haji argued that the Level 5 hospital not only serves the people of Garissa but also others from the neighbouring counties.
Speaking during the closure of a five–day free medical camp in Garissa, Dekow urged Governor Nathif Jama to allow the elevation of the facility so that he could concentrate with other level 4 hospitals.
“We have the Garissa referral hospital and the regional centre for cancer. I request that all leaders from this region sit down together and see how we can elevate these hospitals to level 6. Currently, there is a lot of pressure in the facilities because they are not only serving the people of Garissa but also all other Kenyans around the region,” Dekow said.
“The national government should take over these facilities so that budget allocation for them comes from the national government and let the county government work on the Level 4 hospitals in our sub-counties,” he added.
The Garissa Township MP further argued that other counties with busy level 5 hospitals had already applied for elevation and thus Garissa should also follow in the footsteps to benefit from the budget allocation.
“Currently, the cancer centre is not working effectively so let us all change it to a level 6 hospital. The Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital in Kisumu has already been elevated and it has been allocated a budget for this coming financial year. Kakamega County has also written a letter to have theirs elevated and we should not be left behind,” he said.
Fafi’s Salah Yakub on his part said that there has been a frequent shortage of medical supplies in sub-county hospitals and other dispensaries, noting that the shortage was due to increased demand at the Garissa Level 5, which ends up taking all resources.
Yakub, urged the county government, with other leaders and stakeholders, to start the process of making sure that the Level 5 hospital is transferred to the national government so that the remaining little resources can be used to fully support other hospitals in the county.
“I know, maybe the reason why we have shortage of medical supplies in sub-county hospitals and dispensaries is because we have put most of the focus on the Referral hospital. This hospital may be taking all the resources making it hard for other lower hospitals to get supplies,” Yakub said.
“This year, the Ministry of Health was given 42 billion for Level 6 hospitals and we are missing on that allocation. If we elevate this hospital, we will not have problems in the other sub-county hospitals,” he added.
By Erick Kyalo
